The Lizzie Bell.

Taranaki Herald, Volume L, Issue 12028, 25 July 1902, Page 3

The Lizzie Bell.

WRECKED OFFOEO, JULY 24th, 'A BALLAD OF COOK STRAIT. Gome list ye now good people all— To a' doleful tale I tell ; Then Mercy pray you do not see The wraith oi the Lizzie' Bell. jy, the Lizzie Bell was taut and trimWell found as ship could be ; She cleared from the port of Welling- ,,',»* ton— ' ■ And sailod for the open sea. 'She passed the Heads, she reached the •. Strait — • The wind' was south' and strong, 'And spreading her sail to a fav'ring gale Merrily sped she along. Though -1 was glad, yet sbme were ' sad To leave the port behind them, -For Bore they grieved to part from • - those ~ • To whom taue love did bind' tnem. _ But thro' rope and shroud the rising gale Sang sweetly of home to me, And my liosom rose with an answ'ring swell To the. heave of the rolling sea. For in Norwich there lived a Bweet young- wife— And one that loved me well, .Who nightly did pray by a lonesome For the mate of the Lizzie -Bell. . And when raged the storm and lashed ~~ 'the hail— . And nierhts were dark and wild, Close to her aching heart she held And kissed her sailor's child. It was eight of the night w&en we passed the light That shines o'er the waters afar — Through the perilous race of that narrowing strait — The mariner's guiding star ! , Then sailed the moon above the land The fleecy clouds between, •—And a silver ship on a silver sea— 'Twas wondrous fair I ween ! * " And we left the land on either hand • And steered for the Ocean wid«, "While swiftly flew our gallant bark Like bridegroom to the bride. - But a demon doth lurk in the waVry murk — . Full many a fathom deep,^ , And he sports with the cry of a found'ring ship And the tears that women must weep. So* we made not the course we shaped so trueBut far to the leeward drifted, Where the rocks* like a fierce old kraken's fangs,* ' j Thro' the swirl of the foam are lifted! - Yet onward we pressed— not reeking of doom, Till we made it two on our bell— And little we wist as we heard the sound — 'Twas the toll of our own death knell! *— Are those breakers out "there ? cried the man on the watch As he peered out over the lee: — * But the misty gaze of the coming death Had blinded (he seaman in me. •,**Breakers ahead !— cried the watch in .*-'. 7'- & yell-= 5 . ,_._. ,i_

—Breakers all round !— in a shriek:— But onward she rushed and struck with the speed And crash of the- lightning streak 1 Down fell her mast with a thund'ring shuck And cumbered her quaking duck;— Over she heeled with a dreadful lurch And "lay there a woful wreck. She had • sped like a dove of th« Ocean free— Fleeting to loved ones at homo;— She lay like that dove when the seahawk has struck— In a welter of feather and foam ! • • • • * What lies so still on yon grey shoreWhile the chill wind moaneth Ly, And the salt sea surge doth chauat a dirge And the sea-fowl wail and cry ! Nine corpses stark ! — do lie so still That once were bold seamen, But Doom shall call on the sea for her dead— iSre they make their tale of ten \ In holy ground they sleep so sound Under tho green-tree "shadeTo the twittering lay of the swe«t land bird— Would I were with them laid ! For I lie so cold — long fathoms down— My flesh will not decay ; And my soul doth strive in vain to be free— Tis prison'd so close in clay I Warm was the bed of my own true love— Her sigh full tender and sweet, Aa I whispered the love I had cherished afar In troth, to her own heart beat. Cold— cold ! is a beef in the Ocean's ooze — Where the stark drown d seamen rest ;— . Said cold is the touch of a mermaid s And deadly the chill of her breast ! 3hamo on a people glutted -with wealth— So much to the mariner owing— That leaves its shore like a snare that is laid For his bark scad M* life's undoing. • • * * * But heed it .now, on ye good folk Who in this land do dwell, rill ye light the reef of the Oeo . Is laid a fearsome spell I \ For a spectre ship tvith a spectre crew, A* the year brings round the day. it 'sight of the night shall pass the light- , And speed from the port away ! knd be the weather or fair or foul— ' Ths' night or clear or dark, SVith a swelling sail before a gale Shall glide that fateful bark. To the toll of her bell in a weird death knell— She shall split on that reef asunder, kud the cry of her drowning crew shall rise - On the roll of the breakers' thunder. (Voe— woe ! to the man that sights that bark In a rift* of the white squall smoth"er :— knd- to him who shall hear in the wild night's war j - That cry of 'a drowning brother I i Woe to the maid who in tender mood A troth in that hour shall plight— knd woe to the mother who bears a babe . In h watch of- that awesome Jiighi I The tand shall creep where the cattle sleep . In the lush of the meadow lying— The seed shall rot and the tree decayTor a «ap of the -lands denying. £ wind that is bitter 'shall wail forlorn ,' Thro' a land fof ever blighted. kad Despair shall brood in its mournful waste-* Till a flame on that reef be lighted. Grod -spare you then, good people all, The fate that me befell | knd Mercy pray you do not see ! The' wraith of the Lizzie Bell ! ROBERT J. BAKEWELL. Bell Block, New Plymouth, July 23, j 1902.

Football Notes. Political Gossip, and •ther news will be found on the fronl ] page ; and Parliamentary and other mat- j rer on the back page. Captain .Edwin wired at 12 30 to-day :— j fJale from between north-east and north | Midwest; glaHsfall; sea heavy ; tides high; indications for much rain. The Mayor wired his Excellency the Governor asking if he could see his way to address a public meeting here, during bis visit, on his proposal to establish a Veterans' Home in the North Tsland. His Excellency's private secretary has wired MT'Dockrill that his Excellency will deliver Buch an address on the occasion .of the presentation of medafa to returned troopers on July 30th. A. deputation from tb.9 Stratford dis trict was told by the Minister for Public Works that the Stratford-Whanga-momona railway will be completed to Wbangamotron iin two years. But then the same gentleman pledged his ministerial word that the line would be opened is f sir as Toko by last Christmas. We should like to make him a little wager ibont the completion to Whangamomona.